Tre Moore to start at quarterback for Yale

Published 7:26 pm, Tuesday, September 27, 2016

A week after coming off the bench and moving the chains in a game at Boston College, Phil Manley started at quarterback for Yale against Columbia on Oct. 18, 1980.

With that, Manley became the first African-American starting quarterback in the more than 100-year history of Yale football. He was injured in the Columbia game, however, and didn’t start at QB again.

There has been only one other black quarterback in the school’s history since then — Derek Russell, for one game in 2012 under then first-year coach Tony Reno.

On Saturday, there will be a third. And this player might have a more permanent role.

With the Bulldogs trailing 21-3 late in the second quarter in their Ivy League opener at Cornell on Saturday, sophomore Tre Moore took over for starter Rafe Chapple and moved the offense as well as its moved so far this year. Moore completed 21 of 33 passes for 147 yards, and though it wasn’t enough to prevent a 27-13 loss, Moore was named starting signal-caller for Saturday’s non-league bout with Lehigh.

“We’re big on earning things, and Tre was competing all along,” said Reno. “He earned the opportunity, and he’s our quarterback. We’re excited about moving forward with him.”

Moore appreciates the historical aspect of being just the third African-American starting quarterback in school history, but is more focused on the job at hand.

“The fact that not many have come before you, to do that at such a prestigious university as Yale, it’s a great honor,” he said. “But I’m kind of just focusing on the week ahead, focusing on Lehigh.”

Moore played a couple of series late in Yale’s season-opening loss to Colgate, completing one of five passes. Chapple was named the starter for the Cornell game, and Reno seemed to hope the junior would take hold of that position for the rest of the season. But after two interceptions and a lost fumble in the first half on Saturday, Chapple gave way to Moore.

“The biggest thing coming into the game for my focus and for the team was bringing up the energy — keep the ball moving, making plays,” said Moore. “That was my main focus, just moving the ball, so I felt great to be able to do that.”

Moore’s first name is Rufus, but he’s called Tre because both his grandfather and father were also named Rufus. He hails from St. Louis, where he attended John Burroughs School and was teammates for two years with Ezekiel Elliott, who’d go on to star at Ohio State and was the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft by Dallas. Another of his high school teammates was Foyesade Oluokun, now a senior linebacker at Yale.

Moore and Oluokun were also former basketball teammates and have known each other for years (though they came up short of a football state championship while teammates at Burroughs).

Reno remembers recruiting Oluokun and watching him as the most athletic of a very athletic Burroughs basketball team. He was a second team all-Ivy pick as both a freshman and sophomore defensive back, but missed almost all of last season after injuring his thumb in the season-opener at Colgate, returning two weeks later and tearing his pectoral tendon on the very first series against Lehigh.

Oluokun missed this year’s Colgate game with an ankle injury but returned against Cornell to make 10 tackles while playing a new position — outside linebacker.

“I was just excited to be out there,” he reported. “Moving from DB to outside linebacker ... it’s a little bit different playing style. It takes a little more getting used to, but I love it, just being involved in every play. I feel like I have more of a role with the running game, things like that. It’s a little bit different pass-coverage wise. As a safety, you can’t let anybody behind you. As outside linebacker, it’s more zone drops, filling in space.”

For Moore, his relatively quick ascendancy to starting QB is a product of being patient and taking advantage of his opportunities.

“He didn’t worry about the outcome, he worried about the process,” said Reno. “I tell that to the team all the time, ad nauseum sometimes. He dealt with what he could control every single practice, and that was preparing himself. When an opportunity came, he took advantage of it.”

Added Moore: “If you’re given the opportunity, your job is to make the most of your opportunity. I was in there for two series (against Colgate), didn’t do much in those two series, so all I could look forward to was getting back into practice and making the most of every rep and every opportunity I got.”